And I Would Be Happy
by Jaro-ship
Summary: 3rd story in my AU post-SK series. Forced to deal with the consequences of her summer fun, Rose must navigate through her induction into the Inner Circle, Lissa having her baby, Tatiana's wrath, and confront the issues of children and living among humans.
1. Chapter 1

**Weee! So I was nearly finished with _This Would Be A Reality_ and decided I'm just not yet ready to leave my AU versions of Rose, Dimitri, Adrian, and the gang. So aren't you people lucky?!**

**And since it'll be fairly obvious a few words in why doing Rose's POV would just be boring, I'm doing something different (Holy shit, Batman!) and writing in Dimitri's POV. Yep, you heard me. I'm fairly excited to write in his POV, especially with him being all AU and stuff in my post-SK series. :)**

**Yes, this A/N was freakishly long. As is this chapter. Ciao.**

**Usual disclaimers apply.**

* * *

_No sleep, today  
Can't even rest when the sun's down  
No time, there's not enough  
And nobody's watching me now_

_When we were children, we'd play  
Out in the streets, just dipped in fate  
When we were children, we'd say  
That we don't know the meaning of_

_Fear, fear, fear  
Fear, fear, fear  
We don't know the meaning of_

~OneRepublic, "Fear

* * *

"Room 305. It'll be on your left." The nurse behind the desk flashed a sad smile at me and then went back to her paperwork. It shouldn't have come as a surprise to me that she would remember my face; I'd spent every possible hour in this goddamn hospital since Rose was first admitted.

I found her room easily, crappy cup of hospital coffee in hand. The current doctor on staff looked up as I entered, dumping my bag next to my chair.

"How is she today?" I asked in vain. At least my voice didn't crack this time. I was getting better about that.

"Same as usual. Dimitri, is it?"

Dr. Solomon, was it? Well then, right back atcha, Doc.

I nodded.

"Vitals are where they should be, given her condition. I'm sure you've heard the age old saying, 'There's nothing we can do until the patient comes out of the coma,' right?"

"I know," I muttered, glancing at Rose.

"Despite having a chipped skull when she first came in, she's pulling through a lot more than I expected."

_Literally, a flash of white light before my eyes squeezed shut in anticipation._

"Her head trauma doesn't look like it'll be permanent."

_My arm crushed by what looked like the roof of the car._

"I'll have to double check again with my supervisor, but it looks like we'll need to take her in for surgery tomorrow to see what we can do about salvaging her leg."

_The screams, the whir of passing traffic, that goddamn laugh._

"Salvaging?" I asked. The word brought my out of my thoughts like a bucket of cold water.

"Her right leg was broken in eight spots and her right hip in three, both due to the impact of the crash. It almost would have been better if she hadn't worn her seatbelt. Going through the windshield might have produced better results for her instead of being crushed by the car itself."

_The ambulance ride was a daze, watching her fight for her life, the blood loss, the frantic EMTs._

"So what does that mean?" I asked softly, afraid of the answer.

"It means that she'll have to go through intense physical therapy after she wakes up. Any sort of martial arts or yoga she may have done before the accident will have to be put on hold for quite some time. Running itself could pose potential issues for pain and arthritis later on down the road."

_The police, questioning about the accident and what happened. Going back to the wreckage, retrieving what could be salvaged. Watching the rest get pushed over to the side with the twisted metal._

"I don't think there'll be any issues with carrying children, but she shouldn't be balancing four-year-olds on that hip. All in all, she's an extremely lucky woman."

_Bending in unnatural positions to give x-rays. The plain, white cast that eventually encased my lower left arm._

"I may have asked this before, but you're her what again?"

"Fiancée," I replied automatically.

"In that case, Miss Hathaway is doubly lucky." He smiled and patted my shoulder. I grabbed Rose's hand with my good one as the door clicked softly somewhere behind me.

As with every other day that treacherous week, I sat there, holding Rose's hand, letting the hours slip by. A nurse came by to run some tests around dinner, as usual, and I jumped when my phone rang.

I fumbled for it in my pocket under the murderous glare of the nurse. Punching the green button and hastily retreating into the hallway, I gave a nervous, "Hello?"

"Oh, God, Dimitri. You're alright." Lissa. I idly wondered how she knew my cell phone number in the first place.

"I am," I replied, leaning against the wall next to the covered window.

"How is Rose? Adrian tried to go talk to her the other night, but he couldn't reach her. What happened to her?" I could hear the scared note in her voice.

"We got into a car crash." I heard Lissa intake a breath of air sharply. "She accidentally drove into oncoming traffic."

"Why?"

Victor threw a rock into our car for no apparent reason, other than to scare the hell out of Rose.

"No idea. She's been in a coma since then. They're taking her in for surgery tomorrow to work on her right leg and hip."

"Oh God," she whimpered. Christian's voice came softly from the background. I watched one of the overhead lights flicker as she relayed the information to him.

"Why are they waiting a week to get her into surgery?"

"I wish I knew, Lissa. I'm assuming it's due to the lack of space to begin with. This hospital is nearly overflowing." And the only reason they were letting Rose stay was because they didn't want the comatose out of their eyesight.

"Where are you?" If I hadn't mentored Rose for a year, I probably would've thrown the phone across the hallway. Too many questions for my brain to handle right then.

"Chicago. And where are you?"

"At the Court. Do you think Rose would mind if we paid a visit after her surgery?"

"'We' being…?"

"Christian, Adrian, and me."

"That's fine. Just, lay off on the healing, okay? We're not exactly in vampire territory right now, and humans can get pretty suspicious quickly."

"Fine." But I could tell that Lissa was disappointed.

"They're surprised at how fast she's recovering," I added. I hoped it sounded like a piece of reassuring information.

"Well that's good." She was a bit happier now. She paused, again telling Christian what we'd just talked about. "I'll let you get back to Rose, then. I know she'd throw a fit if you weren't there."

"Thanks, Lissa."

"No problem. I'll let Adrian know that his favorite flirt hasn't died." She laughed a little bit and hung up.

I flipped the phone closed. My hand was on the door when my phone buzzed again. My brain, used to the standard ten digits for American phone numbers, did a double take at the strand of numbers on my screen.

"Who gets to blow out my ear this time?" I asked, a smile creeping onto my face.

"You finally turned it on this time," Natalya noted. I rolled my eyes. Sunday. I should have remembered. It was the only day my mother could get everyone in the house to do their monthly phone calls. It was something they tried to do after the attack on the school eight years ago.

"I was busy," I said, trying to defend myself.

"In July?" Nikita asked in disbelief.

"Unlike some people, I have a job and a fiancée with an anger issue to attend with, so yes, I was busy."

"So what's so special about you answering now?" Viktoria. Of course. Always Lieutenant Sarcasm to Natalya's Captain Obvious. I could see everyone on separate phones throughout the house.

"Girls."

"Sorry, Mama."

"Sorry, Dimitri."

"Whatever."

"Where's Els?" I asked. The nurse left Rose's room, ignoring me completely.

"Out," my mother said, though her voice was careful. Like there was more to the story.

"So what've you been up to, oh dear brother of mine?" If Natalya was Captain Obvious and Viktoria was Lieutenant Sarcasm, Nikita was Brigadier Lets-Push-Dimitri-To-His-Limits.

"Road tripping with Rose."

"Can I talk to her?" Viktoria must have put the phone on speaker; her voice was too far away for it to be up against her ear.

"Well, um, you see–"

"What is it?" My mother, the worrier.

I made a face, though they didn't see it. I pushed myself up from the wall and looked in through the small window on the door.

"Dimitri."

"Huh?" Feigning innocence could always work.

"What happened to Rose?"

Damn. Not happening.

"She's in a coma."

The silence was nearly as deafening as the shrieking I had expected.

"What?" Natalya, who'd been silent up until then, suddenly found a new low note in her vocal range.

"There was an accident on the highway right outside Chicago about a week ago. Our car and the car Roza crashed were so destroyed that they had to spend two hours pulling the metal apart to get to her. I made it out with a broken arm and a sprained ankle."

Viktoria let out a disapproving whistle.

"So how is she, other than the whole coma business?"

"Nikita!" Thank you, Natalya.

"What?"

"Have some respect. It must have been traumatic on Dimitri."

"It's not my fault his fiancée can't drive."

"Rose–"

"Is a very capable driver." Time to cut in. "Something surprised her and there was no traffic barrier."

Nikita grunted and went back to doing whatever she had been previously doing.

"They've already done surgery on her skull – it was chipped somehow – and they're taking her in for more surgery on her leg and hip tomorrow since they're not healing fast enough."

"I'm so sorry, Dimka."

"Thanks, Mama."

"Whoops. Igor's here with the kids. Gotta run." Nikita's extension clicked off.

"He really is here, Dimitri." I heard Viktoria's window open. "Hey Iggy!"

Someone shouted back at her, along with a chorus of tiny voices.

"They're so cute. But anyway. Tell Rose we're thinking of her."

"Take care of yourself, Dimitri. Not that you need to be told that anymore, but just humor your old mother here."

"You haven't told her yet about coming here for Christmas yet, have you?"

"Hold on a second." Viktoria's voice rang loud and clear now. "Does this mean the wedding is postponed?"

"Vikka. It was yesterday. What do you think?"

I swear, if Natalya didn't exist, I would've turned gray by now.

"I have to go. Visiting hours is almost up and the nurses across the hall are shooting me dirty looks. Love you all."

A round of "bye Dimitri!" floated through the phone before I flipped it closed.

--

"Belikov! Good to see you, man." Christian held out a hand, to which I returned. Lissa nearly flung herself at me, like I was Rose's savior or something. Adrian and Eddie, the latter of whom had been added to the trip for security measures, copied Christian's gestures.

"Show us the way. You're the expert of Chicago now," Eddie said, shooting a look in Lissa's direction. If she noticed, she didn't let on; she was busy looking around the airport's entrance.

"When in Rome, we take the bus with everyone else. The hospital's about a half mile away." I heard Christian and Adrian chuckle, and I suddenly hoped that they weren't thirsty.

They ran a shuttle from the airport into the city, and with their tiny bags, the five of us managed to fit on the next bus passing through. It was a silent, hot, uncomfortable ride, and Lissa's growing stomach took up what could've been another person's space.

"It's so white in here," Adrian commented when we entered the hospital.

"It looks like this until you get to the children's ward. I got lost the first time I came in here as a visitor. Just stick behind me and you'll be fine."

We ended up with one of the smaller elevators, but it wasn't as tightly packed as the bus had been. Everyone was silent, even Adrian. There was a quiet nervousness to everyone's body language; talking just seemed out of place.

"Room 305, Mister Belikov. You know the drill." The nurse looked up, and stared at my group. "You're getting badges for all of them?"

"Yes ma'am," I said. "Friends," I added, handing a bunch of name tags and a Sharpie to Eddie. I paused in the middle of writing Lissa's name. "How did you pronounce my last name correctly? Rose's nurse can barely get my first name right."

"Born and raised in Poland, though I've spent the past twenty years here in America. I'm used to the phonetics." Her smile became so much more genuine after sharing that information with me. She suddenly looked her age in the off lighting.

"That would explain it," I agreed with a tight-lipped smile.

"They're taking her in for her surgery in an hour, so I'd hurry it up. No telling how long it will take. You all have a good day."

I finished off my own name and pulled out my laminated badge. The only sign of being nice Rose's nurse had displayed was with giving me a name tag I could use over and over again. It showed up on the seat I normally sat in on my third day there.

I showed them the corner to dump their bags in and followed suit with my own.

Lissa sat on the bed on Rose's good side. Adrian was about to sit on the other side when I shook my head.

"That's the side they're working on today. It's already broken in thirteen places; I don't think they'd want to deal with a fourteenth break."

"Alright," he said nonchalantly, and just stood instead. Eddie was leaned up against the window in the tiny room, and Christian sat in the seat next to me. He reached across me and grabbed the marker sitting on the table connected to Rose's bed.

"Hold your arm out, Belikov."

I raised an eyebrow. Christian uncapped the black marker, a glint in his eye.

"Allow me to decorate your cast."

"Oh God," I muttered, but I held out my arm anyway.

Christian was busy attacking my arm with words and doodles when Lissa spoke up.

"Where's her _chotki_?"

The bracelet or the necklace?

"Destroyed. Her _nazar_, too. Janine's already been notified. She told me that she might not be able to make it."

"I can always get her another," Lissa murmured. She gently moved a piece of Rose's hair away from her eyes.

"There you go. It's one of those puzzles where they've got words and pictures and it makes up a saying. Thought you might like something to do so time can pass."

Weird but nice. That was Christian for you.

"Thanks."

He shrugged. "No problem." He tossed the marker back onto the table.

"Where are you staying?" Eddie asked. "We'll probably end up crashing there tonight."

"A hotel a few blocks down. They haven't thrown me out yet because I haven't caused wild parties and the credit card looked expensive enough that it seems like I'll pay the bill at the end."

We lapsed into silence after that. A team of nurses came in and started punching buttons and messing with the bed. Lissa and Adrian had moved away from the bed, and Dr. Solomon came in. He flipped through Rose's chart and I stood in acknowledge that I saw him.

"Ah, Dimitri. Friends of Miss Hathaway's, I assume?" He looked over the four others in the room.

I nodded. "How long will it be?"

"A few hours, four at the most. It'd be longer if she wasn't healing so fast. We're still going to give her a small dose of anesthetics to make sure that if she comes out of the coma that she'll stay out until the end of the operation."

"But you don't want to suffocate her," I added.

"Yes." Dr. Solomon gave me an odd, sidelong look. "How did you know that?"

"My mother was a nurse when I was growing up." I shrugged a shoulder. "She passed on things to my sisters, and living in a small house, I heard it."

Dr. Solomon's mousy, egotistical feel to him heightened. He pursed his lips in a tight line.

"Yes, true, we don't want her to suffocate. That would be bad. Well, Rose will be back soon enough. Gentlemen," and he gave a nod to a frowning Lissa.

"They don't like it when you say stuff that makes them look equal to you. Some doctors go on a head trip because they spent years in medical school." I sat down in the spot Rose's bed had once been in. "And now we wait."

Hour after grueling hour passed. Eddie, Adrian, and Christian took turns pacing around the small, white room. Lissa wandered over to the window at some point. She sat on the ledge and looked out over the city. Her face was thoughtful, but nobody pressed her to speak her mind.

Eddie left the room after conducting a survey and returned with the hospital's crappy coffee half an hour later. He jerked his thumb towards the window after passing out cups.

"You can get lost pretty easily out there." Christian muttered something into his cup, and Eddie grimaced.

"And they're coming back with Rose. They were at the other end of the hallway."

"We should probably get out of the way, then," came Lissa's voice out of nowhere.

Nodding, I followed the others out into the hall as they wheeled Rose by.

"They're pretty pleased with themselves," Adrian noted. It took me a moment to realize that he could read their auras. "Nobody's worried, not even that new doctor that just walked in. Some of them are even happy."

"That's good, right?" Eddie asked. It was obvious Rose hadn't really included him in all of the mysteriousness behind spirit and its powers.

Adrian just nodded as the latest doctor came out. She shut the door and looked our group over.

"Who's the closest relative?" she asked. Rose was probably taller than her.

I raised a hand halfway. Lissa let out a weird, strangled noise.

"If you don't mind stepping over here with me." She led me over to the nurse's station across the bright hallway.

She leaned against the white counter, identified herself as Dr. Anderson, and set Rose's file on the counter. She pulled out several x-rays that looked freshly printed.

"I was Rose's surgeon. I've got another one in an hour, so I can't chat forever." Getting right to the point, in typical Janine Hathaway fashion. Too bad she was blonde. If it was redder, she could pass for Rose's mother.

"It was pretty impressive what she did. I didn't get to read the police report, so I don't know the extent of what happened. I do know, however, that it could've been worse."

She pointed to the x-ray closest to her. "This was her leg when she first came in." She pointed to the middle x-ray. "Before the surgery. We did this last night." She pointed to the last one. "This was done just a little while ago."

I could see that her kneecap looked put back together, along with some other points in her leg and hip.

"The kneecap was starting to fuse together so that it would've come out disfigured." She circled Rose's kneecap with her unopened pen on the middle x-ray. "We moved some bone around to help refigure it, but it's going to be a little off. I'm predicting arthritis for her, which is something I tried to avoid.

"Her hip was a different issue. The bone density itself was on the thinner side, but nothing too bad to worry about. Artificial cartilage went in here-" She pointed to a spot on the final x-ray with her pen. "Here." Another spot. "Here." Another spot. "And here." The last spot.

"Artificial cartilage?"

"Experimental procedure that's been done with marvelous results. Your bill might go up a few hundred dollars. Otherwise, it's nothing to worry too much about."

"Ah."

"If she weren't comatose, then I'd say it'd be at least a week before she's to get out of bed. But seeing as she is, however, it's a different story." Dr. Anderson pushed the x-rays back into Rose's file. "She's got cast from toe to hip on, and then a brace that will keep her hip still. When she wakes up, she is going to be in a ton of pain. My suggestion? Ask for a room in the family ward. You've been here long enough, from what I can tell."

"Family ward?" I asked.

"It's up on the eighth floor. It's just hall after hall of sectioned off beds. People who a family member with a special circumstance can request a room or section of them. It helps them avoid traffic and trying to make visitor hours." She paused and looked around before leaning in closer. "Plus, the cafeteria up there has better food, in my opinion." She leaned back into her original position. "If you need anything, just go ask Anna, up at the sign-in desk. Though I'm sure you know her by now."

With a quick smile, she scooped up Rose's file and left. Her blue scrubs were a sharp contrast to the whiteness of the hallway.

Back in Rose's room, the nurses were gone. Everyone had resumed their normal spots from that morning. I told them what Dr. Anderson had told me.

"That's good, then, if you can stay here. Go get a bed, and we'll take your room." Adrian grinned wildly.

"And all sleep in one bed? It's not even king-size." I shook my head.

"Picky," Adrian muttered.

I rolled my eyes and headed for the door.

My hand was about to pull the door open when I heard Rose's weak voice.

"Dimitri? Wh-Where am I?"

* * *

**Review!**


	2. Chapter 2

**It's one of those weeks where it needs to end five minutes ago. Sorry if the chapter seems a bit off and that's shorter than usual. :/ And I would've updated earlier, but I've been sick and my laptop's being a bitch....You can go read the filler chapter now.**

**Usual disclaimers apply.**

* * *

_Harry got up  
Dressed all in black  
Went down to the station  
And he never came back  
They found his clothing  
Scattered somewhere down the track  
And he won't be down on Wall Street  
In the morning_

_He had a home  
The love of a girl  
But men get lost sometimes  
As years unfurl  
One day he crossed some line  
And he was too much in this world  
But I guess it doesn't matter anymore_

_In a New York minute  
Everything can change  
In a New York minute  
Things can get pretty strange  
In a New York minute  
Everything can change  
In a New York minute_

~Don Henley, "New York Minute"

* * *

The lights were really bright against my eyes, and I had to squeeze them shut before letting them adjust.

I heard Dimitri rush to my left side, murmuring my name. Stroking my face. A kiss on the forehead. That was before I felt the immense amount of pain shooting up my right leg.

"Fuck!" My voice was louder than I expected, but still not normal.

"Why don't we give them some space?" Lissa, Lissa, Lissa was here. I heard the beep of a monitor, and after it became repetitive, I realized it was my heart monitor.

I was in a hospital. For God knows how long.

"Dimitri," I whimpered. Between the pain, the brightness, and the increasing beeps on whatever the hell I was hooked up to, everything was swirling around in my vision. "What's going on?"

"Roza," he whispered, his voice full of emotion. Fear, anger, nerves, impatience.

"What's going on?" I repeated. I was still begging. "It's so confusing."

"Dimitri, if you could step outside please." Another man's voice. My eyes still closed, I shied away from his cold touch. I let out a yelp before he started chuckling.

"I won't hurt you, Miss Hathaway. I'm just here to help."

"No, no, no, no, no, you'll hurt me like he hurt me!" My eyes flicked open, now used to the lights, and I tried not to picture the doctor as Victor. A very hard feat to do, I might add.

"Sedative," he commanded, and I began to protest until they put some liquid in my IV tube. The welcome, warm, comfortable darkness greeted me with open arms again.

I wasn't asleep for as long this time. When I woke up, it was to some pissed off-looking Polish woman, who was pressing buttons.

"Rose." Dimitri. I turned to my left. Well, my head did. My body seemed to be glued to the bed.

I opened my mouth, but Dimitri shook his head.

"You need to hear what happened first, before I answer any questions, alright? Dr. Solomon won't be back for some time."

I nodded and winced when more intense pain shot up my leg.

"There was a car accident, out on the highway. Right outside of Chicago, where we are. You were badly injured and just came out of a weeklong coma, a feat many around here find miraculous. People hardly ever come out of them.

"They fixed a crack in your skull from when you hit the pavement, and just did surgery on your leg two days ago from when the car crushed it. There were eleven breaks between your leg, kneecap, and hip. So no more playing Jackie Chan for the next year or so."

I tried to pout, but my lips felt dry and stiff.

"Manya, some water, please?" Dimitri asked, and the nurse left. "Look, the Queen already knows. She's reassigned me to Lissa's detail. Adrian's been a free spirit his entire life, and she's not too worried about him. You're technically supposed to be inducted into the Inner Circle this November – Merry Christmas – which means you have to be a guardian, but they're making an exception for you. Tatiana doesn't expect you to be back on your feet and walking down the hallway by yourself until September, at least. Got it?"

I nodded weakly.

The nurse came back with the water. She turned on her heel again, shutting the door behind her with a loud sound.

Dimitri dipped two fingers into the cup of water and then lightly dragged them across my lips until they felt somewhat normal again.

"Thanks," I whispered.

"Lissa, Christian, Adrian, and Eddie are all here, but since visitor hours are over, I've got to get back to my room. They're at a nearby hotel."

"Room?" I asked. Dimitri shook his head and gave me another tender, light kiss on what I suspected to be the good side of my forehead.

"When you're more coherent."

For the first time in a week, my dream of tying my shoelaces seemed normal and understandable. That is, until the hospital room started to form again. I was sitting up in bed this time, watching Adrian pace by the window.

"Long time no see, survivor," Adrian joked.

"Ha-ha," I replied. I wiggled my toes. "So you can do anything now when you dream walk?"

"Not everything." He paused his pacing and regarded me carefully. "I can take away your pain, but I can't heal your injuries."

"Huh," was all I said in response.

He came over and sat by my left side. Chewing over his words, Adrian stared me straight in the eyes, his green eyes boring into my brown ones.

"What happened? Why did you crash the car in the first place?"

"I-" I looked down at my hands. "I don't know. It was dark, we'd just come over the Canadian border, I was tired."

"But-"

"I don't want to talk about it," I snapped, malice creeping into my voice.

Adrian paused and I could sense him frowning. "Alright. You're waking up anyway."

I smiled as he slipped from view and I was back to facing the ceiling. Weak sun filtered in through the window.

The door swung open and Dimitri loped inside, humming under his breath. A Styrofoam cup was in his hand, smoke pouring out of the top.

"Morning," Dimitri said as he pulled the chair closer to me.

"Back atcha," I muttered. I tried to blink away sleep since the thought of moving my arm brought on intense amounts of pain.

"Sorry your doctor looks like you-know-who," Dimitri said, playing with a piece of my hair.

I let out a hollow chuckle.

"Speak of the devil," I muttered as Dr. Solomon entered.

I ended up tuning most of the conversation out, watching the monitors around me bleep and tick. The heart monitor was strangely, addictively mesmerizing.

"So how long will she be in here until?" I heard Dimitri ask. I pulled back out of my thoughts, focusing in on Dimitri and Dr. Solomon.

"It'll be at least a week until she walks. I don't really know. We'll just have to see how she advances. I'm willing to pull for her to stay longer if necessary instead of sending her home in a week or two."

"A week?" I asked miserably.

"It was an impressive situation what you got yourself into, Miss Hathaway," Dr. Solomon chastised.

I groaned, closing my eyes. Sleep seemed like a better situation, but it wouldn't come.

The door clicked open and closed before I opened my eyes again.

"A week?" I repeated.

"If you were a normal human, it would be longer. Like I said, eleven breaks."

"Don't remind me," I grumbled.

A comfortable silence ensued, Dimitri sipping what I learned to be his cafeteria coffee.

Lissa and her crowd came in around lunch. They kept my mind busy with updates of what had been going on while Dimitri and I were in self-exile. Lissa had entered her final trimester, and she was beyond excited. Minus the morning sickness early on, she apparently loved being pregnant – she was one of the lucky women that felt great during their pregnancy.

"So what-"

"I don't want to talk about it, Liss." I sighed. "I'm just not ready."

"Fine." She was fiddling with the edge of the extra blanket I had asked for earlier. Suddenly, her hand went to the bottom of her stomach. "Oh."

"Oh what?" Christian asked as worry flashed onto his face in milliseconds. He rushed over to her.

"I-" She paused. "Ouch." She sucked air up through her teeth.

"It isn't-"

Lissa shook her head. "I'm pretty sure multiples are the ones having Braxton's right now."

"Baby talk confuses me," Eddie muttered in my ear and Lissa and Christian went back and forth. "Especially the pregnancy tech terms."

"Agreed," I replied.

"Well, we're going to have wait a few minutes before we know." Lissa sighed, lightly massaging her stomach.

Things were silent for a few minutes, all eyes on Lissa. I was too drained to even touch the bond, but I could feel worry and excitement and wonder trickling through. Christian had opened his mouth to say something when Lissa's eyes went wide.

"Six minutes. C'mon, let's go get a nurse." Lissa grabbed Christian's hand and he gave Adrian a panicked look. Dutifully, he followed them out of the room.

"So who else thinks Lissa and Christian are about to become parents?" Eddie asked softly.

The three of us that were left in the room started laughing uneasily until Dimitri muttered, "At least it's daylight."

Eddie and I sobered right up.

Silent hours passed. Still weary, I dozed off and on, and after nurses came by to run tests and refill my IV bag so I wouldn't starve, Eddie finally caved.

"That's it. I'll be right back." He flung the door open and Dimitri, who was coming back in, gave him a weird look.

"I don't know where he's going, Dimitri, I really don't." I shrugged a shoulder, wincing with pain. I felt like I'd been hit by a falling jet plane several times over.

"At least he's getting out of this stuffy room." Dimitri dropped down wearily next to my bed in his chair. "In any event, I got you a large order of fries from McDonald's. I cleared it by Anna up front, so it's alright for you to eat them."

"Anna?" I asked as he pulled out a large red carton of hot fries from the bag.

"The head nurse of this ward. We're sort of friendly. Here." He held out a fry and I eagerly yanked it out of his fingers with my teeth.

Dimitri kept hand feeding me fries; we were almost done with them when Eddie walked back in a gift shop bag.

"When boredom strikes, we turn to crossword puzzles." He sat down in between me and Dimitri on my bed.

We were trying to figure out what the squiggly over the n in Spanish was when Adrian sauntered in, half an hour before visitor hours were over.

"Adrian, do you know what 13 down is?" Eddie asked, showing Adrian the book of crossword puzzles.

"A tilde." He looked at me. "Lissa's in labor."

"But she's only 32 weeks," I protested, rapidly searching my brain for what little I knew of pregnancy.

Adrian shrugged. "It's premature. Christian and I are spending the night with her. Hopefully, you'll be a godmother by sunrise. She wishes you could be there right now."

"And I wish she could've been at the Court for this. Why did she even fly out for me so close to the due date?" I asked. Eddie and Dimitri had started quietly packing up.

"She was worried about you. You can't blame her."

I rolled my eyes. Adrian left after a few minutes and Eddie quickly followed him.

"I'm sorry I have to leave you here." Dimitri kissed the top of my head lightly, his nose burying itself in my hair.

"'Sokay. It's just me sleeping all the time, so it's not so bad." I gave him a weak smile. "Trust me. I'm not depressed or anything. I'm sore all over and I have no intentions of moving for a while."

"I just hate not being able to be with you every night." He left before I could reply.

Sighing and blinking back tears, I fell asleep much later than I wanted.

It was lunchtime by the time Adrian came back around. Eddie, Dimitri, and I had worked through four crossword puzzles that morning and we were on the brink of finishing our fifth of the day.

"You guys want to see Cailiegh Rose Dragomir?" He was scrolling through what I presumed to be pictures on his phone. He held out the phone to a picture of the cutest newborn I'd ever seen wrapped in a white and pink blanket.

"And she looks squished because?" Eddie asked.

Adrian just coughed in response. "Think about it Castile."

Eddie let out an "Oh!" after a few minutes.

"Send my congratulations," I said as Adrian turned to leave.

"I will." He smiled, winked, and went back to Lissa and Christian.

* * *

**Review!**


	3. Chapter 3

**This chapter is dedicated to MidnightSunFan because I felt bad she never got a shout-out....Speaking of which, here's your shout-out: I'm just going to go ahead and say that he "got around" if you know what I mean, and then that one girl who he thought was "The One" turned around and completely destroyed him.**

**I'm moving to weekly updates. Life's crazy, and I can only get around to updating on the weekends. :) I got a lovely snow day today, so you all get an update! It's shorter than normal, but I've got to keep things moving. Pardon the time jumps. I'm getting my muse back after I killed it for college stuff.**

**Usual disclaimers apply.**

* * *

_Hurry up and wait  
So close, but so far away  
Everything that you've always dreamed of  
Close enough for you to taste  
But you just can't touch_

You wanna show the world, but no one knows your name yet  
Wonder when and where and how you're gonna make it  
You know you can if you get the chance  
In your face and the door keeps slamming  
Now you're feeling more and more frustrated  
And you're getting all kind of impatient waiting

We live and we learn to take one step at a time  
There's no need to rush  
It's like learning to fly or falling in love  
It's gonna happen and it's supposed to happen that we  
Find the reasons why one step at a time

~Jordin Sparks, "One Step At A Time"

* * *

"That's a new record today, Rose. Congratulations." Anna smiled at me, readjusting the sheets around me.

"I walked down two hallways. I doubt that's a new record."

"For someone of your condition, it is," Dimitri pointed out. I stuck my tongue out at him playfully and nestled back into my mound of hospital pillows. Just in the past week alone, I had worked from just getting out of bed and down the hallway a few steps to walking the length of the hallway and back. Today we had tried and succeeded with two hallways up and down.

"Looks like you'll get to be going home soon," Anna noted as she took my blood pressure. Right after Lissa had left with Cailiegh and everyone else (except for Eddie, who wanted to stay behind for moral support), I'd had a weird blood pressure spike. I hadn't told anyone it was from Lissa's stress streaming through the bond, though I got the sense Dimitri was assuming it was the bond.

"Really?" My already upbeat mood swung even higher.

"Don't get too excited," Anna chastised, "You're supposed to stay off your feet for a good while and you'll most likely be confined a walker or wheelchair - which ever Dr. Anderson wants you in - so household chores should be done by someone else."

I glanced at Dimitri. He was busy staring intently at his coffee.

"Alright, alright, Mother, I get it," I joked. In the month I'd been at this hospital, I'd grown close to Anna - she was my motherly figure during everything seeing as my own mother was conveniently too busy to visit her daughter.

"I'll be up front if you two need anything." Anna smoothed my hair down gently before leaving.

"Get over here," I demanded, moving over on the bed to make room for Dimitri. Only in the past few days had I allowed Dimitri to be on the same bed as me, and only my left side, too. My right side would never forgive me if I tried to allow anyone other than Anna or Dr. Anderson near it.

Dimitri threw away his now empty coffee cup before sliding onto the bed next to me. He wrapped his arms around me comfortingly, and I snuggled in closer to him. I'd gone a month without the feel of his arms holding me as if he weren't going to let anything in the world harm me. Now I had to make up for lost time the illegal way since having somebody else on the bed with me wasn't the best idea.

"I missed this," Dimitri murmured, running his fingers through my hair.

"So did I." I kissed his collarbone lightly, smiling against his skin as I felt let out a suppressed shudder.

We went back and forth, whispering sweet nothings to each other, another habit of ours that I had missed.

Eventually, Eddie came back with more McDonald's, and I had to leave the warmth of Dimitri's arms. Slipping off the bed, he caught the bag of food Eddie had tossed him. Eddie tossed me my bag, and able to move my arms fairly well, I caught it deftly. He sat down at the foot of my bed, and we hungrily plowed into the glop.

"Rose is getting out of here soon," Dimitri told Eddie later after the garbage can had been filled up and Anna had come by to run my tests.

"She is?" Eddie asked, pulling out the crossword puzzle book we were nearly finished with. "When?"

"A few weeks," I replied cheerfully.

"Well that's good. It'll be good for you to get out of here." Eddie thumbed open to the puzzle we had stopped working on last night. "A seven letter word for a jerk."

I saw Dimitri raise an eyebrow.

"Kidding," Eddie joked, giving us a quick grin. "It's a seven letter word for a place where you send and receive your mail. Though the answer to my clue would be 'asshole'."

* * *

"So when do we find out what we got on the test, Guardian Hathaway?"

I glanced up at the kid speaking to me. Brian. Ninth grader. Though he looked like he could be in the fifth grade.

I sighed, not knowing if being back here at St. Vlad's beat the two months I had spent in the hospital. I was nearly done recovering but I still had a bit of a limp going on. I was doing exercises with Alberta during what would have been my security shift to help keep my leg and hip agile. My kneecap stuck out at a weird angle, but it wasn't like I was single and to worry about a potential boyfriend finding it weird.

"Brian, you took the test yesterday, along with twenty-six other students. It was a fifteen-page mid-term with a four-page essay included. That stuff is handled by Guardian Alto. So go ask him, though I can guarantee you that he doesn't have them all graded yet." I shook my head and looked back down at the lesson plan book sitting on the desk in front of me, willing ideas for next Wednesday's class to spring to mind.

"You told Starker to come to me?" Stan asked, an amused smile on his face. He sat on the edge of the large desk.

"You deal with the grading. I do everything else." I stuck my tongue out at him. Sighing yet again, I flipped the book closed, shoved it in a bag I had bought just for the teaching stuff, and slowly pushed myself out of the chair. Leaning on the desk, I bent over on my left side, grabbed the bag, and slung it over my left shoulder.

We started walking to lunch, me limping, Stan purposely walking slowly to talk with me.

"I heard from Alberta that you were leaving a few weeks early for the break."

I nodded, laughing hollowly a little bit. "It's for something the Queen wants. I don't really know details of what she wants, just that she wants me at the Court."

"It'll be like going home," Stan mused, his lips twitching upwards into a smile.

"Yeah, it will be."

Stan opened his mouth to say something else, when there was a shout down the hall. I saw Raine with a freshman kid and it was obvious Raine was winning the fight.

"Fuck." I shoved my bag at Stan, and surprising my hip, I took off for the scrap that was gaining a crowd. Pushing my way through, I made it to the front. In reality, I didn't have to push my way to the front so much as the group parted like the Red Sea when they saw me charging forward.

Hip throbbing, I pulled Raine off the scared boy - who turned out to be Brian - and helped him up off the floor. I sent him off to the med clinic; the crowd had grown even thicker since I had pulled Raine off Brian.

"What the hell was that?" I demanded.

"What the hell was what?" Raine retorted. She crossed her arms over her chest. I had only been back for a month or so, and Kirova had called me in for many meetings with Raine about her behavior. This was fight number sixteen in the past two weeks alone. She was more out of control than I had been.

"You just don't go around beating up random kids because of whatever grudge or thing you have against someone else! It's not only against the rules, but it'll put you in a position for graduation that you don't want to be in!"

"Like you know anything about grudges or what it means to-to-to-" Raine sputtered, but gave up, still harboring whatever secret she had been keeping from me. I noticed she had grown a few inches over the summer and had died her hair an interesting mix of red and brown. The random black streaks somehow fit in with the darker edge she had developed.

"That's it." I grabbed her shirt by the shoulder. "The rest of you better get off to lunch or I'll personally hand out detention for everyone."

I dragged her into an empty, nearby classroom. She wrenched herself out of my grasp, stumbling backwards a few steps. She straightened out her jacket before addressing me.

"What?" Her tone and posture were defensive, and after a month of the same, I was ready to rip her head off.

"What nothing," I snapped. "What the hell is your problem? I know I wasn't here in the beginning of the year-"

"Because you can't drive," Raine interjected.

"-So I don't know what went on for you over the summer. I do know, however, you've copped an attitude that you didn't have at the end of last year. And what's with the emo edge to your look now?" But as the words came pouring out of my mouth, I realized what had happened.

"Alert the media, because the almighty Rose Hathaway has finally figured it out. Maybe she should work on not only her driving skills, but her guardian mask, too." Raine brushed past me hastily, throwing the door open and then slamming it shut behind her.

I stared at the door, wondering why Andrew would have broken up with her. The only reasons I could think of were either he didn't want a long distant relationship or he was the asshole type underneath his layers of perfectness, and dumped her because he had graduated and she still had a year left.

I took it easy the rest of the day. From moving so fast earlier, I had severely stressed out my hip, and man was I paying for it. My limp was even more evident now, and after one period working the security shift, Alberta told me to pack it up and go rest. She also cancelled my physical therapy sessions for the rest of the day.

I slept through the designated time Dimitri would have called me for our daily chats; though it was probably better I did, since I later found out from Adrian during his dream walk that Dimitri hadn't even called Lissa or Christian to let them know he wasn't coming.

Slipping through the remaining few weeks wasn't all that difficult. I had kept a countdown in Post-It notes on my vanity mirror, and when I finally got to throw away the last one, I was jumping up and down in excited anticipation. It was more bouncing than anything since my hip wasn't completely better.

"Thanks, Celeste, but you didn't have to do this." I felt like royalty - Tatiana had sent out one of the large private jets just for me and Celeste had turned into my personal bellhop.

"No, no, Rose, you shouldn't be dragging heavy bags around. Hell, you aren't even supposed to walk faster than a mile an hour or so. It's the least I could do." She gave me a warm smile before handing the bags off to one of the flight attendants. I gave her a small hug before I attempted climbing up the stairs.

When I finally got into the cabin, I saw Lissa sitting a few seats back, the cutest baby ever sitting in her lap. Limping my way over to her, she threw her free arm around me while standing up to meet me.

"Is this Cailiegh?" I asked, making baby faces at the four-month-old.

"Yes she is." Lissa could barely contain her excitement. I didn't need a bond to feel those emotions. I dropped down into the plush, leather seat as Lissa sat down much softer considering the baby in her hands.

"Can I-" I started to ask. Lissa practically push Cailiegh into my hands.

"Don't be ridiculous. You're her godmother after all."

I stuck a tongue out at her, and Cailiegh started clapping her hands excitedly. Her eyes, bright and blue and curious, flicked wildly across my face. I momentarily forgot this was the first time we were meeting each other and I grinned at her before Lissa took her back.

"Seatbelt," she elaborated as the plane roared its engine.

"Right," I said with a patented Rose Hathaway Eye Roll.

And with that, we settled back in with Cailiegh for a trip back to the Court.

* * *

**Review!**

**Oh, and as lizzydhamp1901 brilliantly puts it:  
"...Just in case those accountless readers don't know it, I allow anonymous reviews...you don't need an account to leave me a comment....Also, I read all the reviews, but I figure you guys'd rather have me writing the next chapter than replying (unless you ask a question...). AND, feel free to suggest anything - whether it's a line or action or whatever. If your ideas fit in, I'll try to use them." Also, I do take song suggestions, since my iPod only has so many songs and I have wayy too many break-up songs. (coughwhichican'tuseuntillaterinthestorycough)**


	4. Chapter 4

**I'm sick of snow. As is the rest of the DC metro area. :) Hence the update. OH, and there's going to be loads more Adrian and Fya in this story. ;)**

**Usual disclaimers apply.**

* * *

_You can have it all  
Anything you want you can make it yours  
Anything you want in the world  
Anything you want in the world  
Give it up to me_

_Nothing too big or small  
Anything you want you can make it yours  
Anything you want in the world  
Anything you want in the world  
Give it up to me_

_Hey can we go by or do you prefer to fly?  
All of the roads are open  
In your life  
In you life  
Give it up to me _

~Shakira, "Give It Up To Me"

* * *

"So they broke up?" Christian asked.

I sighed, playing with the loose strand on the couch pillow. I had gathered up all of my friends and Dimitri for a get-together at Lissa and Christian's place, and we were lounging around on couches and the floor of their giant living room. Soft, barely audible jazz music was coming from the intense sound system near the TV.

I didn't want to have to go over this again, but apparently, it was necessary.

"Raine and Andrew broke up. Raine has completely freaked out over it. She's even taken to wearing this extremely tacky black leather jacket. She gets in more fights on a daily basis than I did in a month. Her reputation has taken an incredible, horrible turn."

"Wow," Adrian muttered before taking a swig from his current bottle of Smirnoff.

"He's an asshole," Eddie announced. Lissa reached over and slapped him on the back of the head. Christian, who had an alert Cailiegh in his lap, just laughed.

"Language around the baby. Watch it." She gave him a glare before sitting back in the plush couch.

I saw Fya mutter something in Dimitri's ear. She glanced at her watch and Dimitri grimaced.

"What?" Jeremy, whose head had been bent over a notebook that had been sitting in Mia's lap, suddenly looked up, his face alarmed.

"We have to kidnap Rose for some secret guardian stuff now. She just didn't get to skip out on her prison sentence to sit around and gossip about her students." Fya grimaced. "And we're going to nearly make it by the skin of our teeth if we don't leave, like, right this second."

I bade good-bye to everyone else and followed my fiance and friend out of the apartment.

"Move it, Hathaway," Fya said, throwing her head over her shoulder momentarily to spit out her words.

We stopped when we go to the guardian break room of the main Court building. Fya pushed open a door painted red in the back corner after punching in a long strand of numbers. She purposely stood in front of it to keep my eyes from seeing any part of the strand.

"I'm surprised you didn't ask about the door before," Dimitri muttered as we climbed into the elevator that was behind the door.

"It was painted red and in a dark, back corner. Red usually means 'none-of-your-business' and a dark, back corner translates into trouble most of the time." I shrugged. "I figured it wasn't worth asking about."

"Oh," Dimitri replied, but he dropped the subject after that.

The elevator stopped and opened up into a large, medieval-feeling chamber room. Swords and thick, velvet banners with different sayings in Latin hung around the room, that after inspection, revealed to be made out of eight walls to form an octagon. The floor was made of stone. Groups of guardians in the usual attire milled about, chatting and laughing. Five older guardians wearing long black cape-like robes over their outfits were clustered behind an ancient bowl. It looked like it had been cut out of a tree trunk. A sharp dagger precariously sat on the edge farthest away from me. A scroll with a black feather pen sat next to the bowl.

"So when does the party start?" I whispered to Fya.

She just smiled. "When they notice you're here."

"Who? The men in black?" I crossed my arms over my chest.

"Very funny," Fya commented. "And yes, those are the Council leaders. Though you'll find out more about them in your training seminar."

I was about to ask her what she had meant by that when one of them let out a sharp whistle. A red star with thirteen points was on the right breast pocket of his robe. The others each had the same in a different color - green, blue, brown, and silver - and they each looked the same. Old. Graying. Caucasian. Gray beards. Guardian attire. Freaky black robes. I would've sworn them to be genetic clones had they not been so old looking. They were probably executing witches in Salem when the group of geezers had been born.

"Silence to the Higher Order!" Red Star announced. Everyone fell into their respective positions - two to a wall - and a heavy quiet fell over the room. I saw Dimitri was to my dead left; I took some comfort knowing where he was.

Of course, in typical Hollywood fashion, I ended up in the middle of the room. The group of the old men stood in a tight, straight line, shoulder-to-shoulder, with Red Star in the middle.

"Rosemarie Hathaway." Blue Star. Hard to tell what his tone was. It wasn't like he making a statement, but he wasn't asking a question. It was probably the most neutral thing I had ever heard someone say.

"Hey," I replied. I saw some guardians smile. Blue Star stayed as stoic as ever.

"Step forward," Blue Star commanded. I followed his command, coming all the way up to the table. The bowl, dagger, scroll, and pen all sat on a black velvet tablecloth. It was all very King Arthur-like.

Red Star leaned down towards me, his voice hushed. "This isn't going to take very long. So just bear with us. The fun stuff comes later." Going back into character, he stood up straight and gave Blue Star a weird nudge-like movement to the ribs.

"By the order and wish of Queen Tatiana Ivashkov herself, Rosemarie Hathaway, do swear on your blood to upholds the ideals and principles of the Inner Circle, its members, the Moroi political system, the leader of the Moroi and dhampirs, and those expected upon your dedication to the protection of the Moroi?"

I glanced around me. "Um, sure?"

"You right hand," Red Star commanded, and I held out the correct hand. Flicking the dagger up into his skinny, bony fingers, he pressed the entire blade across my palm. A thin line of crimson liquid spluttered up and Red Star twisted my hand roughly towards the bowl. After a symbolic three drops hit the bottom of the bowl, he shoved my hand away.

"What, no towel?" I asked, assessing my hand.

"Not yet." Blue Star smirked. He took the dagger from Red Star and handed it to Brown Star, who was standing on the other side of him.

"By the power of Earth invested in thyself, I give three drops of my own blood to symbolize my acceptance of Rosemarie Hathaway into the Inner Circle." He handed it off to Blue Star, who pressed it into his palm.

"By the power of Water invested in thyself, I give three drops of my own blood to symbolize my acceptance of Rosemarie Hathaway into the Inner Circle." He then gave it to Red Star. Red did a flashy quick scrap along his hand.

"By the power of Fire invested in thyself, I give three drops of my own blood to symbolize my acceptance of Rosemarie Hathaway into the Inner Circle." Red Star gave it to Green Star. Silver Star looked incredibly nervous.

"By the power of Air invested in thyself, I give three drops of my own blood to symbolize my acceptance of Rosemarie Hathaway into the Inner Circle." Silver Star took the dagger gingerly, daintily dragging it across his skin.

"By the power of Spirit invested in thyself, I give three drops of my own blood to symbolize my acceptance of Rosemarie Hathaway into the Inner Circle." His voice definitely was not the calm, controlled tenor of his peers. He handed it to Green Star, who gave it to Red Star; he simply put it on table.

"As leader of the five elements, I give permission to Rosemarie Hathaway to access the secrets and hidden memories of ancestors past. May she live a long and healthy live, always willing to step in and put her life on the line in order to protect the Moroi, whose precious blood shall never be spilled." He gave the bowl another three drops of his blood. The cut on my own hands was beginning to throb.

"Rosemarie, please sign in blood to the words which you will now live by." Red Star handed me the pen.

"I guess we're doing this Harry Potter style," I muttered. I grabbed the pen and signed the piece of curly parchment. When I set the pen down, I stared at my blood entranced by it. The pen was covered in it. Reflexively, I looked at the back of my hands. So I wouldn't have a scar of the words in my hands for all eternity. Damn.

All five of them suddenly spoke up, making me jump a little bit. "By the power of the elements invested in thyself, I present now Rosemarie Hathaway, member number one two four three eight one two of the Inner Circle."

Red Star looked at me. "Welcome, Rosemarie." He smiled before he dropped the paper into the bowl of blood. It caught on fire, and I watched it go up in flames. I got a glimpse of the bottom of the bowl as they took it away - it was clean. Blood free. Sometimes the magic around here got a little too weird for my tastes.

I felt like I had won an award or something. Every guardian in the room felt the need to come up and congratulate me. I shook hands with my left hand. I had been given a bandage and moist towel by a timid-looking Silver Star for my right hand. It was beginning to throb painfully now.

I shook hands with all of the five star-guys and Dimitri and Fya, both of whom had been waiting off to the side, pounced on me after the guys left.

"They had fun with your induction ceremony," Fya noted, squeezing my shoulders with one arm.

"How so?" I asked as we joined the group waiting to get onto the elevator.

"'By the order and wish of Queen Tatiana Ivashkov herself, Rosemarie Hathaway, do swear on your blood to upholds the ideals and principles of the Inner Circle, its members, the Moroi political system, the leader of the Moroi and dhampirs, and those expected upon your dedication to the protection of the Moroi?'" Fya repeated. "Most of the time, they just go with, 'Do you swear on your blood to uphold the ideals and principles of the Inner Circle, its members, and the Moroi?' None of that fancy, extra stuff they threw in."

"Normally it means they have plans for you," a voice piped up. I turned to see a girl, no older than fourteen, staring at me inquisitively.

"What do you want now, Naomi?" Fya asked tiredly. She saw my gaping mouth and then added, "This is Naomi Kingsley. Guardian extraordinaire. Well, not really."

"Child prodigy in mathematics, instrumental music, and puzzles." Naomi shrugged, her dirty blonde hair brushing the middle of her upper arms. "They just use me in deciphering codes and such."

"Naomi also happens to be thirteen." Fya gave Naomi a small smile.

"Fourteen in just a few weeks." Naomi rolled her eyes. "I had to mentor Fya - like, give her the crash-course, mentor - and she didn't agree with my style of teaching."

"Oh really?" I asked, raising an eyebrow at Fya. She just threw up her hands and got on the elevator with us. Naomi squished in between Dimitri and I.

"I tend to get bossy and defensive when in a leadership position. Did I mention I'm dabbling in poetry?" She fell silent after that.

We stopped at a conference room, and Fya held up a hand out our small group of four. We did get off at a floor that looked like it had come straight out of _Headquarter Mania _- cubicles stretched down along the room as far the eye could see. However, instead of a white-and-beige theme going, it was all black and silver and red and the lights were down low.

Fya led us down along the edges. She eventually made a left next to a room that said "Copy Room III" and passed four spacious cubicles until she came to the fifth. They all opened the same way.

"Your finger allows access," Fya explained. Bewildered, I pressed my right forefinger to the tiny pad by the entrance. It scanned it and a soft click was heard.

"Ah," Naomi murmured. I followed her in. There was more than enough room for all of us to stand comfortably in it. A sleek, black Macintosh laptop sat on the desktop with tons of manilla envelopes piled up around it. A simple, black and silver desk lamp sat unlit behind the mounds of what I assumed to be paperwork.

"This is your cubicle. For now, at least. Dimitri told us you liked Macs better, and we try to custom tailor to your preferences, when allowed. Right now, you get to do newbie stuff like filing paperwork and transmitting it into our databases. I don't know what you have. You'll be assigned a mentor next week after you take a placement test in a few days. You'll be notified when it's time to administer it to you. Get a high enough score, and you won't be doing field or paperwork. Any questions?" Fya's glasses had suddenly appeared; they were sliding down her nose.

I shook my head. I caught Naomi studying me but didn't say anything.

"Well, then, if you have any questions, my email address is already loaded up into your contacts." Fya smiled at me before leaving.

"I'll meet you back at the apartment later. I've got work to do." Dimitri gave me a small smile, kissed the top of my head, and briskly followed Fya out of the cubicle.

Naomi cleared her throat, her pale skin a translucent white in the weird lighting.

"What?" I asked.

"I'm off for the rest of the day. Mind if I hang out with you right now?" She suddenly seemed so much smaller.

I shook my head. I noticed a second chair by the edge of the desk, which Naomi promptly sat in. She flipped open the manilla-colored file folder closest to her and started going through the papers. I heard her murmuring under her breath, tracing the words and sentences with her finger. Shaking my head to myself, I sat down in the comfy black desk chair, booted up my new, personal laptop, and opened a random file folder next to my computer. I nearly dropped it and the thick stack of papers tucked inside it.

Written on the first page was a picture of the man and his name: Victor Dashkov. This was certainly some interesting paperwork.

* * *

**Review!**

**Oh, and as lizzydhamp1901 brilliantly puts it:  
"...Just in case those accountless readers don't know it, I allow anonymous reviews...you don't need an account to leave me a comment....Also, I read all the reviews, but I figure you guys'd rather have me writing the next chapter than replying (unless you ask a question...). AND, feel free to suggest anything - whether it's a line or action or whatever. If your ideas fit in, I'll try to use them." Also, I do take song suggestions, since my iPod only has so many songs and I have wayy too many break-up songs. (coughwhichican'tuseuntillaterinthestorycough)**


	5. Chapter 5

**Enjoy this tiny bit dialogue between.....you and me I guess.**

**Reader: *looks around* It isn't 2012, right?  
Authoress: No....  
Reader: So why is there an update?  
Authoress: ..........idk........Maybe it really is 2012. *coughs* The government has been lying to us! *LE GASP***

**No, seriously, life's been crazy and my birthday was Tuesday sooooo....April will be a lot less hectic. And now I present Chapter Five of AIWBH (which is a long one because I felt bad!).**

**Usual disclaimers apply.**

* * *

_lyrics_

~Artist, "Song"

* * *

At first, my shock got the better of me. After a few seconds, I calmed down. I flipped through the file. There wasn't anything in there that I didn't know, except for a memo about a minor money scandal Victor was involved in years before I was born.

The computer beeped at me, prompting me for a password. Naomi coughed conspicuously and I closed the file.

"Password, password, password, what's the password?" I muttered.

Naomi's head ducked underneath the desk. She surfaced with a computer bag I assumed was mine. Rummaging through it, she produced a black paper folder.

"It's probably in here," she told me nonchalantly.

Hesitantly, I gave her a thanks and opened it up. Inside was a single sheet with rhb1243812 printed on it.

"I thought your last name was Hathaway," Naomi noted over my shoulder. I nearly jumped out of my chair. I hadn't noticed her get up and move behind me.

"It is." I looked at her as she sat back down.

Catching my curious look, Naomi gave me a small smile. "They normally do your first and last name initials and then what we nicknamed your barcode number. It's really just your member number." She paused. "For married women, they do your maiden and married name. But you're not married yet."

"How-"

"You can consider me to be Dimitri's other half." She laughed hollowly, darkly. I was slowly finding out that these people worked on a need-to-know basis.

Ending the conversation, she picked up the file she had dropped on the floor. Turning back to my laptop, I entered in the password. The background image on the desktop was a photo of Dimitri and I had long ago taken. It had been at Lissa's birthday party, so many months previous. Dimitri must have gotten hold of my password and set it up like that.

I spent the next five hours entering in information from the files. At some points, I would have Naomi translate a few - they were in languages I didn't know - but otherwise it was silent task. Naomi's quiet, brooding air was something I was used to; I could see her and Dimitri naturally gravitating towards each other for this type of work.

When I finished, it was well past eight at night. I was barely a fourth done with the files, but Naomi promised me that in a full day, I'd crank them out in no time.

I stood up, stretching. Naomi had offered to unhook my laptop with promises that she'd teach me how to hook it up and unhook it tomorrow.

"I have tomorrow off, too," she explained as I slung the bag over my shoulder and thin black pea coat.

"Why?" I asked.

"Took the rest of the week off. So you're stuck with me until Friday night." Her smile seemed a little less forced this time.

"Ah." I nodded, feeling my stomach protest at the lack of food coming in. "C'mon. I'll treat you to dinner."

"No, you don't-"

"Yes, I can and will." I headed towards the shopping area of the Courts. "But it's your choice."

She ended up picking a burger joint, and after nabbing a table in the back, we ate in silence. It was excruciating; I kept quiet because it felt like she had something to say. I knew what it was like to have to tell somebody some pretty hard news. (Cue distant memories of my mother finding Dimitri and I in a rather compromising position for someone in a hospital bed.)

"I don't live with my parents, you know." Suddenly she stopped, a French fry halfway to her mouth. "You don't mind my spilling my life story here, do you?"

I shook my head.

"So, anyway, I figured you probably wondered what the hell kind of parents would let their fourteen-year-old daughter get involved in this guardian stuff." She fell silent again, swirling another fry around in the ketchup.

Naomi looked like she was trying to collect herself. After shoving and swallowing a handful of fries and then fixing her messy ponytail, she finally opened her mouth, keeping her eyes on me the entire time.

"I used to live with a family friend, Mark. He was a dhampir, a guardian, and a pretty well-respected one at that. He found me on his doorstep when I was two. Not knowing where I came from, he took me in and tried to find my parents all throughout my childhood. He was nice and caring and all, but I always felt like there was something off about him. I wasn't officially adopted; we used to talk about getting it official for years.

"When I was eight, he finally found my parents - in a cemetery. His uncle had died and since he wanted to go and I couldn't stay home by myself, we went. It was one of those funerals that had the whole nine yards - down to the procession in the cemetery, watching the casket being lowered into the ground and tossing dirt in the hole if you were family.

"Anyway, afterward, we were walking around. It had started snowing - it was January - and most of the people that had attended were gone. We were still in the section of graves that had been buried in the past decade or so. Mark had gotten enough information about my parents, like their ages and names and stuff, through a complicated process that involved my DNA.

"We were standing there, me trying to figure out the significance and him just staring at the tombstone. Apparently there must have been something he didn't want me to see since I watched his eyes move back and forth. He muttered something and then picked me up and took off.

"He forgot about my photographic memory – since I'm lucky enough to have one of those – so I was able to remember the general area. I came back with my friends a few days later to see what all the fuss was about. I hadn't been able to make out the words in the dull light of an overcast day, but a clear night with a flashlight? Yeah, much easier on my eyes for some reason."

Suddenly she paused, and I was brought back to the present. Excusing herself, she got out of her seat and brushed past me towards the bathroom.

When she came back, she seemed a lot more subdued and quiet. I don't think she had planned on telling so much of her story at one time. I didn't push her to tell me more - I knew she would tell me on her own terms.

Silently agreeing that we were both finished, I grabbed my coat (Naomi already hers on) and we started to head for the door. I hit something hard when I started to push the door open.

"Ow. Shit, Hathaway, trying to beat me unconscious?" A blonde woman who looked much older due to stress than she should have was rubbing her forehead.

"Mia," I breathed. She gave me a smile. "I haven't seen you since-"

"Since you and Lissa first got here, yeah, I know. Jeffery thought it'd be good to extend my, uh, training to outside the Court. I visited occasionally, but I'm back full-time."

After a few rounds of "I insist" and "No, really, it's okay" Mia, Naomi, and I ended up sitting back down in the busy, bright burger place. Naomi quietly agreed to go get Mia a drink from the counter while we caught up.

"So who's Jeffery?" I asked. It wasn't weird between us - she _had _helped me kill Strigoi back in the Spokane house - but we definitely weren't the best of friends considering what she'd done to Lissa and I during my senior year.

"A friend," Mia answered, her pale cheeks catching on fire with a mad blush.

"A friend," I echoed. Naomi sat back down next to me, handing the soda to Mia. "A friend friend or a friendly friend."

Mia's blush got deeper.

"Mm-hmm. Alright." The door swung open and Mia's head snapped around.

"That's Jeffery," Mia clarified as a dhampir walked towards us. Naomi looked up, and should I have expected the norm out of her, she would've adopted those dreamy eyes teenagers get when looking at older guys. But her eyes stayed their emotionless blue color and she dropped her head back down towards the ground.

"Guardian?" I asked quietly. Mia barely shook her head as Jeffery ambled over towards us. I briefly wondered why Jeffery, as built as he was, wasn't a guardian, but I kept my mouth shut as Mia did quick introductions.

"Naomi," my new co-worker mumbled.

"Ah," Jeffery said. "So this is the infamous Rose Hathaway." He laughed, his thick Australian accent becoming more pronounced with every word. "An' I thought it was an honor just to know someone who knew her."

Apparently I was a big deal in the land down under.

"Six degrees of separation?" I prompted.

He chuckled again, and I noticed it was out of nerves. "Yes, exactly."

Naomi's phone started buzzing, and after she read the text, she started grinning like an idiot. Noticing our stares and sudden silence, she mumbled something about going outside.

"I'll go get the food," Jeffery offered.

"You know what I like," Mia responded. He gave her a quick kiss on the cheek and got on line.

"So how did you find him?" _When in Rome,_ I figured._ Do as the Romans do._

"My dad had an old family friend that moved to Sydney. We visited him a few summers ago, and Jeffery nearly ran me over with his car when I was walking down the street. There isn't an academy in Australia - they all have to go to another continent - and his family didn't have enough money to have him fly anywhere outside the country." She paused, noticing my reaction. "He had saved up for that old, junky used car of his since he'd been seven or eight."

"Huh," I said, noticing Naomi come back in. She waved her hand and jerked her head towards the door. "Well, Mia, I guess we'll have to finish catching up later. Naomi's got to get back home."

"Tell everyone I said hi," Mia added as I stood up. I flashed a smile and then made my way through the tables over to Naomi.

"Abagail's worried about me, as usual, so I gotta head home."

"I'll walk with you," I offered, not caring if she declined or not.

"Alright," Naomi agreed, flipping her phone back open to answer yet another text.

Naomi dictated the direction of where we went, texting and giggling the entire time in a fashion that just screamed "BOYFRIEND" in big, fat, neon letters on her forehead.

I had been fourteen when I ran away from St. Vladimir's. I'd still had a month left to go until my birthday. Naomi was almost fourteen and while she seemed much younger than I had been at that age, she seemed a hell of a lot older than me. More mature in some aspects, less mature in others. I still wondered how she managed to get Abagail as her legal guardian instead of this shady Mark character.

Dark history. Obviously. I mean, this was my Hollywood-style life we were talking about here. Why not give the mysterious, past-hiding newcomer in my life a dark history that involved beatings and secret-keeping adoptive fathers?

But for all I knew, she could have just wanted someone different to look after her.

I dropped her off, returning her hug. Abagail - totally and stereotypically living up to her Irish name with the freckles, pale skin, and bright red-orange hair - waved at me from the doorway.

"Thanks for listening," Naomi said. I gave her arm a quick, reassuring squeeze.

"No problem." She flipped open her phone and skipped up the driveway.

Sighing, I silently walked back to my own apartment, tossing theories of Naomi's history around in my head. I gave up as I fumbled for the keys to the front lock.

"Hey," I threw my coat haphazardly on a metal hanger and then shoved it into the closet. The laptop case dropped down to the rug in front of the closed door.

Dimitri gave a grunt in reply. I flopped down next to him, glancing at the hockey game on the TV long enough to know who was playing (Washington Capitals and Pittsburgh Penguins), what the score was (Capitals 3, Penguins 2), and whether or not I felt bad for the Penguins (as they were technically the local ice hockey team I was supposed to root for; I didn't feel bad however, since Dimitri had lured me over to the dark side of liking the Capitals with his talk of Russian hockey gods, one in particular).

My fingers found the back of his neck - where the six molnija marks, promise mark, and battle star sat - and stared massaging slowly. We stayed like that - Dimitri intensely focusing on the game in that quiet, brooding way of his and me with my eyes flickering between the game and him and my fingers toying with his neck.

The TV went off right after the game ended. Alex Ovechkin - the "Russian hockey god" Dimitri had a secret idol-crush on - had been named the first star of the game (which apparently is some big deal but it's such a small honor), so Dimitri turned to me with a smile on his face.

"Information overload?" he asked quietly. "I know today was a lot to handle."

I nodded absently, my fingers drifting away from his neck and into his hair. They pulled the ponytail out; I heard Dimitri let out an almost inaudible sigh.

"What do you know about Naomi?"

"Nothing much," Dimitri admitted. "She keeps mostly to herself. She's a bit like me - guarded, a little untrusting about people she doesn't know - and she latched on to Sofya when she got inducted about three years ago."

"But Sofya didn't like it."

"No, she didn't. She tried to be nice about keeping her distance from Naomi, but now it's just outright rudeness. What, did she tell you anything?"

"A little bit. Mostly about this guy, Mark, and her finding her parents' graves, but she sort of shut me out after that."

"That sounds like her." Dimitri's smile had long since vanished, and his eyes were distant. I knew that look. He was reliving some horrible memory of school or his father; it was hard to tell.

"Hey, hey, look at me," I whispered, my fingers moving to his chin, lightly pulling it towards me. "I'm right here."

He gave me that sad, sorrowful look I was starting to get accustumed to with my about-to-expire punishment.

"I'm not going anywhere tomorrow," I promised. "Not tonight, not tomorrow, not next week."

"But eventually-"

"But eventually nothing. Live for the present." I leaned up and brushed my lips against his. "They call it a gift for a reason."

* * *

**Review!**

**Again, sorry about the late update, folks. School. Boyfriend. Orientation stuff for incoming ninth graders. You know how it is. Next update should be later this week.**

**Also, a happy St. Patrick's Day (a day early) to those who celebrate it. My mother's side is completely Irish, so it always means a good party at someone's house.**


	6. Chapter 6

**Nine months. I know. Nine months. I probably lost a crapload of readers, but whatever. I'm not a review/readership whore. I just like writing for the hell of it.**

**Also, this chapter is in several POVs. Each line break is a POV change.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything that's not mine.**

* * *

"So, now that you and Dimitri have had a chance to get back on track with life, what are you two doing about the wedding?"

Lissa and I were sitting at a cafe in the middle of Court, Cailiegh in her travel seat next to Lissa in the booth. It was a Thursday, and with what little time I had at Court, we had decided to do weekly lunches. I may have been her guardian, but being on duty and hanging out was much different than her giving me off and hanging out. Fya was several tables over, ready to jump in if someone tried to accost Lissa or me.

"I honestly don't know," I admitted, shoving a forkful of salad into my mouth. When I had been released from the hospital back in the summer, they'd noticed my cholesterol levels were on the higher end of healthy. Dr. Solomon had advised me to take it easy on the fattening food, and I did . . . when other options were available.

"You two haven't talked about it?" Her perfectly sculpted eyebrows rose in confusion. My goddaughter, having already eaten, dozed comfortably at Lissa's elbow, completely oblivious to the world.

I shook my head. "Our schedules are crazy right now. Plus, I've been working on lesson plans and putting in extra time so Christmas isn't lame this year." I shrugged. "I honestly haven't seen him since Monday night."

She picked at her wrap. "We already have everything mapped out. It can be pulled together really quickly. You go back to the Academy when?"

"The first," I mumbled. Honestly, it was a wonder Kirova didn't make me come back before New Year's Eve. "Classes start the following Wednesday on the fourth."

"Oh. We'll have to wait then." Sympathy for me floated through the bond.

"It's fine. Really. We've been together for this long. Hell, I already feel married to him."

Lissa's lips tightened into a thin line, and I knew she wanted to make a comment on my brass statement.

"Besides, Christmas is in ten days. Shouldn't you be worried about giving her the best first Christmas she'll never remember?" I nodded towards Cailiegh.

"Oh be quiet," Lissa said, playfully slapping my hand. "When you put it like that, you sound so narcissistic."

I smiled and took another bite of salad. "You still love me."

"Not when you talk with your mouth full. You're setting a bad example for my daughter," Lissa replied.

"She's asleep," I pointed out. Lissa huffed a sigh and went back to her wrap.

* * *

"No, of course I don't." Silence. "Well, I can't-" Silence. "But you said that-" Silence, this time longer. "Fine. Just fine. I'll let her know."

Abigail was stomping around upstairs. I didn't have to have my sensitive hearing to hear the obvious thumps and crashes.

"You with me?"

I pulled back from my watching the staircase to look at the blue-haired boy next to me. Sean Merlitz. Turning fifteen in four months. Never kept the same look for more than a month. Interested in me.

The feelings weren't mutual.

A month ago, I thought they were. Now, I know better.

I nodded.

"Abby will be fine," he murmured, the arm resting on the back of the couch next to me twitching.

"I know," I whispered. I wrapped my arms around my knees, my chin resting on top of them. I was sitting sideways next to Sean.

"If she has to give you up-"

"No. Don't talk like that. Someone may have seen _him_. But I know they're lying. He's dead. I-"

He cut me off this time with a shake of his head. "Don't. He can't hurt you anymore. He can't. I promise you that."

"But what if-"

"Life is full of 'ifs', 'ands', and 'buts'. I won't let him hurt you. Abby won't let him hurt you. Even though you only told her a little bit, Rose wouldn't let him hurt you, either." His face was dangerously close, his clear, pale skin reflecting the flickering fire a few feet infront of the couch. "I may be just another novice, but I do have some training. I can throw a punch like you wouldn't believe."

I rolled my eyes, thoughts of _him_ momentarily forgotten. "Only because I taught that to you when we were five."

We shared a laugh before he sobered up. "Naomi, I'm serious." Against my feeble protests, his arms wrapped me into a hug. I was still in my wrapped-up, fetal position. My ear landed against his chest somewhere above his heart. "Don't think about what's going to happen. You're safe, with Abby and me and everyone else at Court. People make stuff up because they have nothing better to do. And if they're being major assholes and decide that Abby isn't fit to be your legal guardian because of some stupid paperwork, my parents are more than willing to give you the guest room until someone else is reassigned to you."

Despite what I had convinced myself of, I was rather enjoying the embrace. "Whatever you say, Sean. Whatever you say." I paused. "Just don't make me sound like a Moroi. I can't stand their neediness."

* * *

_This day needed to end._

I glanced wearily around the conference room. Rose, her legs wrapped around one of my legs, sat across the table from me, having passed her tests with flying colors and being admitted straight away into the intelligence sector. Naomi was a few seats to my right, and I knew she was pushed away from the table so she could see the screen. She'd once complained I was too tall.

In the front of the room, standing in front of the screen that displayed a map of Mongolia, Sofya droned on about Strigoi numbers and attacks in Asia. "And then in the Dornogovi Aimag, the major influx of Strigoi attacks is in their capital, Sainshad. Reports from Alchemists have gone up nearly two hundred percent, with word filtering in every day. Of course, attacks in China have increased since the country shares a border with not only lots of Mongolia, but a good portion of Russia as well."

The map switched to China, and I continued to tune her out. It was another boring meeting where we were told lots and accomplished little. In my hand, the screen of my phone lit up.

_Our plane is going to arrive in three hours. -V_

_Good to talk to you too._

Sofya was rambling about the Academy being built in the northwestern corner of India when I excused myself from the conference room. Rose gave me a weird look as I left; Naomi had slipped a fifty in my hand as I walked by. She would be leaving in several minutes after me and apparently insisted on paying for gas.

I was leaning against the main Court building when Naomi came out. She would be acting as my navigator, even though most of my trip was going to be spent on I-81.

The car ride out of Court was silent; it wasn't until we were a good distance from "home" when she finally put the music on. It was so soft I barely heard it.

"I only asked to come with you because I need to talk to you."

Naomi's voice startled me so much I nearly drove into a neighboring lane of traffic. I nodded to let her go on.

"You're aware of the fact that Abby is my caretaker at the moment." Fact, not a question.

"Yes, I am."

Naomi sighed. "She's a bit . . . flighty. She's not entirely with us, so to speak. She's got medication and she's supposed to take it every day. I'd make sure she's doing it daily, but the last time I tried to, she nearly kicked me out."

We fell into silence again, something I was used to with the young teen. We passed a sign for a town called Wilkes-Barre when she spoke again.

"She's supposed to go in for weekly reports because of what happened." Pause. "She hasn't reported for one of them since I was twelve."

"They're going to take you away from her."

Naomi nodded, looking out the window. "I have nowhere else to go. I have a friend whose family can take me, but only for a little while. I need somewhere a bit more . . . permanent." Another pause, a bit longer and punctuated by a deep sigh. "I was wondering if you knew someone who could put me up for a few years until I was old enough to get my own place."

My heart went out to her. It really was sad, what this poor girl had to go through all of her life. I wasn't quite sure why she was a member of the Inner Circle and not a novice in school somewhere - we had been inducted together - but she'd never enlightened me onto the topic. I knew it dealt with Mark and I never pressed her for it because of it.

I sucked in a breath of air. "Just hear me out here," I started.

I could see her head turn to give me a questioning look. My eyes stayed on the road, smoothly switching to a faster lane of traffic.

"It may seem crazy to you, and I'd have to talk to Rose, but-"

"I couldn't," she interrupted.

"I want you to. You said so yourself, you have no one else to live with, nowhere else to go. It would also be a hell of a lot easier on you since you already know Rose and me." I fixed her with a momentary, don't-argue-with-me look I had used nearly on a daily basis when Rose had been my student.

"I'll think about it." She turned her gaze back out the window. Her voice was much quieter when she said, "All I know is that I don't want to go back into the system."

We survived all the way until Harrisburg when we both admitted our hunger. A quick snack of fries and Coke at McDonald's left us with more than enough time to kill before we had to be at the airport to pick my family up. I silently thanked whoever was Up There that the Court guardians had given me an SUV when I put in a request to loan a car for the day.

The airport was loud and busy, as most airports are. I knew who was coming - my mother, Viktoria, Nikita, Nikita's husband Igor and their two kids - and described them to Naomi so she could keep her eyes open for me as well. Natalya had been very quiet on why she and her son wasn't coming when we talked on the phone the other day and as horrible after horrible scenario ran through my head over the week, I was growing anxious to hear why.

After a quarter hour of watching people that had gotten off their plane, I saw Viktoria leading the pack of my family. I pulled Naomi over and Viktoria flung her arms around my neck.

"I've never been in America," she whispered in my ear. "This is all I really need for Christmas."

I just winked at her and moved to greet the rest of them. After quick introductions of Naomi, we trekked over to their luggage carousel and retrieved everything. They would be staying until the third of January; it gave them time with Rose and me and then time alone with me after Rose left for the academy on the first.

Once everyone was packed away in the car, suitcases filling up the very back of the SUV, Naomi took a quick survey of everyone. It was nearly six in the evening, but everyone was very adamant that we could wait a while for a proper dinner. Scrolling through the GPS as I left the official city limits of Harrisburg, Naomi quietly showed me a town with more than enough restaurants about halfway through our road trip.

"Dimitri?"

"Yeah?" I looked through the rearview mirror to see Viktoria taking off her headphones to listen to our mother.

"Where is Rose?"

"At Court," I replied with a smile. "This is a bit of a surprise for her. She's been really upset since Natalya came to visit with Peter that she's never gotten to properly meet you all." I paused. "And it's more of a self-indulgent Christmas present to myself."

"It's weird to celebrating the non-Orthodox Christmas this year," Nikita commented, her fingers idly toying with the bottom of her shirt. Signs of her third pregnancy were beginning to show. "We're doing a dinner on the seventh when we go back, but I have to keep reminding myself that New Year's is coming _after_ Christmas and so the tree is going to be of _Pagan_ origin."

"We can still call it a New Year Tree, Kita," my mother interjected. I knew, sitting between the two of them, Viktoria was resisting the urge to slap our sister.

I glanced at Naomi. She seemed unfazed that all of this was taking place in fluent Russian.

"So when is the wedding? I know after what happened this past summer it was postponed." Leave it to Viktoria to delve into topics I didn't particularly care to talk about. Rose had made it very clear to me on several occasions that she strongly disliked my ability to confront awkward or uncomfortable topics; shaking my head, I silently cursed whatever family member gave my sister and me that gene.

"We're not sure. We've talked about still having it, but no specific date has come up. I can almost guarantee it's going to be next summer, right around when we had originally wanted it to be. Probably that same weekend."

"You don't want to-"

"Viktoria Ivanova," my mother snapped. "Don't."

"Fine," Viktoria grumbled, slipping her headphones back on and purposely turning up her music loud enough for all of us to hear.

* * *

"Where were you?"

Dimitri had just walked through the door of our apartment, his duster covered in tiny little snowflakes. I knew he disappeared around two that afternoon during our meeting but where he and Naomi had gone was a mystery to everyone.

At dinner that night, Adrian made a failed attempt at a jailbait joke, to which Lissa responded that if they were having some twisted affair, they wouldn't draw attention to themselves like that.

He shook his head. "You'll find out tomorrow."

"Dimitri Belikov." My worry and confusion bubbled to the surface. "It's _ten_ at _night_._ Where were you_?"

"Getting one of your Christmas presents. Getting one of _our_ presents," he added, seeming to correct himself.

"That-"

"Shh." He held a finger to my lips. "Sometimes a surprise or two can be healthy for a person."

"Fine," I muttered. I had stood up from where I sat on the couch, a novel Christian had loaned me still open to the page I'd been on. I flopped back down into the Italian leather. "Don't expect anything tonight."

Dimitri just chuckled. "I honestly wasn't."

"You make it sound like you're old."

"I am thirty-three, Rose."

"Ancient!" I picked the book back up, eager to find out who the killer was. "Next thing you know, they'll be knocking on our door to feature you in Viagra commercials."

"Very funny, Rose. Quiet humorous. You should really be a comedian."

"Stand up or sit down?"

Dimitri pulled the book away from my face to give me a disbelieving look. "Neither. I take back what I said, sarcasm and all. You really need to work on your jokes."

"Now you're the funny one, Comrade." I placed a quick kiss on his cheek and went back to the scene between the officer and husband of who I believed to be the killer.

* * *

**On a completely relevant but random note,_ I'm looking for a beta_. I've decided it's time I get one just like I've decided to renew my commitment to this story and the series it's part of.**

**I'm not going to impose a 'x amounts of reviews until an update' rule because I hate them and think they're stupid. One or two spreading the love would be wonderful.**


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